First Robotnik War
In the ''Sonic the Hedgehog ''comics published by Archie, the '''First Robotnik War '''is a ten-year conflict fought by the Knothole Freedom Fighters against the tyrannical Dr. Robotnik. The first fifty issues of the comic series cover the later years of the war with Issue 50 marking the war's end. History Robotnik's coup d'etat The First Robotnik War began with Dr. Robotnik's coup, which the doctor had been organizing since before the final battle of the Great War that had ended only months before. With absolute command of the Kingdom of Acorn's SWATbot police and military forces, Julian Ivo Robotnik stormed King Maximillian's castle and captured the king while his army struck multiple points within Mobotropolis simultaneously, preventing most of the populace from fighting back. Within a day, the king was deposed - banished to the Zone of Silence - and Robotnik had begun rounding up the citizens for roboticization. Some citizens were able to escape into the Great Forest where they established the small community of Knothole, and from there would organise a resistance movement against Robotnik's rule. Formation of the Freedom Fighters Days after Robotnik established Robotropolis, the doctor met with resistance in the form of the original team of Freedom Fighters. Led by retired colonel Tig Stripes, the Original Freedom Fighters made numerous strikes against Robotnik's facilities in Robotropolis, slowing down the doctor's war machine. However, the OFF would be betrayed from within by Trey Scales, a cobra who had made a deal with Robotnik and had been promised personal power and wealth if he lured his teammates into a trap. Not being a man of his word, Robotnik had Scales roboticized along with the rest of the team. Instead of keeping the roboticized Freedom Fighters around as slaves, Robotnik decided to banish them all to the Zone of Silence. Without orders or maintenance, the mindless Robians would eventually break down. While Col. Stripes and his team were never heard from again, their exploits would inspire the youth of Knothole to carry on their struggle against Robotnik's tyranny. Robotnik's schemes Over the next several years, Dr. Robotnik would concoct various schemes to destroy the Freedom Fighters. Believing that Knothole was located in the Great Forest, many of the doctor's plans involved destroying the forest in order to reveal the FF's hideout. Among these plots were the release of the mechanical plant Krudzu, the deployment of the Combots and on two occasions brainwashing Sonic the Hedgehog to attack his friends (Sonic was even roboticized on one of these occasions). Time and again, Robotnik's plans would be thwarted by the Freedom Fighters' cunning and ingenuity, but most of all the speed and guile of Robotnik's most hated adversary Sonic. This would lead to Robotnik often targetting Sonic specifically, developing robots such as E.V.E., Metal Sonic and the Super Special Sonic Search & Smash Squad to hunt down the hedgehog. Of course, all of these attacks ended in failure as well. Operation: Endgame Robotnik's ultimate plan to destroy the Freedom Fighters entailed several phases. The first was to frame Sonic for the murder of Princess Sally. The second was to infiltrate Knothole using an Auto-Automaton replica of King Maximillian Acorn. After discovering Knothole's location, Robotnik arrived in the village and took everyone prisoner, turning the village into a labour camp. Rather than kill all of his enemies outright, Robotnik opted for a more symbolic approach with the test-firing of his new doomsday weapon: the '''Ultimate Annihilator. '''The Ultimate Annihilator was capable of distorting the fabric of reality itself and Robotnik intended to erase Knothole from existence with it. However, Robotnik's scheme would become unraveled when Sonic - with the help of Dulcy the Dragon - was able to clear his name and reveal that the FF had been betrayed by Drago, a member of the Wolf Pack who had made a deal with Robotnik. Sonic decided to avenge Princess Sally by confronting Robotnik in his fortress in Robotropolis. When Sonic arrived, Robotnik fired the Ultimate Annihilator, supposedly wiping Knothole out of existence. What neither he or Sonic were aware of, however, was that Robotnik's lackey Snively had sabotaged the UA, reprogramming it to target only Robotnik's bio-signature. Rather than be destroyed, Knothole was displaced inside a temporal warp and existed three hours into the future. After the firing of the UA, the weapon began to malfunction and backfire. Sonic and Robotnik fought each other inside the doctor's war room in a savage fist fight to the death, but the UA's effects began to consume the war room itself. For the briefest moment, Sonic was erased by the weapon before it overloaded and shut down. Dr. Robotnik, however, was killed by the device and completely erased from space-time. With Dr. Robotnik dead, Sonic was found by his friends and returned to Knothole where he was told of everything that had happened. He then visited the glass casket containing the comatose but alive Princess Sally. Sally awoke when Sonic kissed her and together they celebrated with the rest of Knothole. Robotnik was gone and Mobius was now free. Little did they know that the peace would not last... Category:Robot History Category:Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie)